2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, an international men's football tournament, that is scheduled to take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014. It will be the second time that Brazil has hosted the competition, the previous being in 1950. Brazil was elected unchallenged as host nation in 2007 after the international football federation, FIFA, decreed that the tournament would be staged in South America for the first time since 1978 in Argentina, and the fifth time overall. The national teams of 31 countries advanced through qualification competitions that began in June 2011 to participate with the host nation Brazil in the final tournament. A total of 64 matches are to be played in twelve cities across Brazil in either new or redeveloped stadiums, with the tournament beginning with a group stage. For the first time at a World Cup Finals, the matches will use goal-line technology. Every World Cup-winning team since the first tournament in 1930 – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Uruguay – qualified for this tournament. Spain, the title holders, were eliminated at the group stage, along with England and Italy. Uruguay were eliminated in the round of 16, and France exited in the quarter-finals. Host nation Brazil, who had won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, lost to Germany 7–1 in the semi-finals and eventually finished in fourth place. In the final, Germany defeated Argentina 1–0 to win the tournament and secure the country's fourth world title, the first after the German reunification in 1990, when as West Germany they also beat Argentina in the World Cup final. Germany became the first European team to win a World Cup staged in the Americas, and this result marked the first time that nations from the same continent won three consecutive tournaments (following Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010). Hosts On 7 March 2003, the world's football body FIFA had announced that the tournament will be held at South America for the first time, since Argentina hosted in 1978, in line with the policy of the rotating of FIFA World Cup amongst different confederations. On 3 June 2003, CONMEBOL announced that Argentina, Brazil and Colombia had decided to host for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals. Brazil formally declared the candidacy in December 2006 and Colombia did so few days later. Argentina bid was never materialized. On 11 March 2007, Colombia had officially withdrawn from the bid, and Brazil had won. In June 2006, Mike Rann put forward the proposal for Australia to host the FIFA World Cup. He was backed by John Howard, who said that Australia had proved in the sporting events. Australia hosted the OFC Nations Cup various times, but was transferred to AFC in January 2007. Australia attempted to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but lost out to Qatar. In October 2004, the bids of Jordan and Iraq mulled a bid to host the World Cup. In June 2002, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) announced it had expressed interest to offer a bid for the FIFA World Cup. The United States hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup. United States attempted to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but lost out to Qatar. Qualification Following qualification matches played between June 2011 and November 2013, the following 32 teams – shown with their last pre-tournament FIFA world ranking – qualified for the final tournament. Twenty-four of these teams were returning participants from the 2010 World Cup. Bosnia and Herzegovina were the only team with no previous appearance at the World Cup finals. Colombia qualified for the World Cup after 16 years of absence, while Russia and Belgium returned after 12 years. This was also the first World Cup for 32 years that did not feature a representative from the Nordic countries. The highest ranked team to not qualify was Ukraine (ranked 16th), while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was Australia (ranked 62nd). Group stage The group stage produced a total of 136 goals (an average of 2.83 goals per match), nine fewer than were scored during the entire 2010 tournament. This is the largest number of goals in the group stage since the 32-team system was implemented in 1998 and the largest in an average group since 1958. World Cup holders Spain were eliminated after only two games, the quickest exit for the defending champions since Italy from the 1950 tournament. Spain became the fourth nation to be eliminated in the first round while holding the World Cup crown, the first one being Italy in 1950 (and again in 2010), the second Brazil in 1966, and the third France in 2002. The first opening match was Brazil 3-1 Croatia, which is on 12 June 2014. Knockout stage The knockout stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup was the second and the final stage of the competition, following the group stage. It began on 28 June with the round of 16. The top two teams from each group (16 in total) advanced to the knock-out stage in a single elimination tournament. A third-place match was played between the two losing teams of the semi-finals. In all matches, if the score was levelled at the end of 90 minutes, two 15-minute extra time was played. If the score was still level after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shootout. The top qualified teams were advanced to the knockout stage: *A - Brazil, Mexico *B - Netherlands, Chile *C - Colombia, Greece *D - Costa Rica, Uruguay *E - France, Switzerland *F - Argentina, Nigeria *G - Germany, United States *H - Belgium, Algeria For the first time since the introduction of a round of 16 after the group stage in 1986, all the group winners advanced into the quarter-finals. They included four teams from the UEFA, three from the CONMEBOL and one from CONCACAF. Of the eight matches, five required extra-time, and two of these required penalty shoot-outs; this was the first time penalty shoot-outs occurred in more than one game in a round of 16. The goal average per game in the round of 16 was 2.25, a drop of 0.58 goals per game from the group stage. The eight teams to win in the round of 16 are Brazil, Germany, Argentina and France, together with Netherlands, Colombia and Costa Rica. Italy did not advance to the finals. Belgium reached the quarter-finals since 1986. With a 1-0 victory over France, Germany set a World Cup record with four consecutive semi-final appearances. Brazil beat Colombia 2-1, but Brazil's Neymar was injured and missed the rest of the competition. Argentina reached the final four for the first time since 1990 after 1-0 win over Belgium. Netherlands reached the semi-finals for the for the second consecutive tournament, after overcoming Costa Rica in a penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw at the end of extra time. Germany qualified for the final, for the eight time with a historic 7-1 win over Brazil in the semi-finals - the biggest defeat by the Brazil since 1920. Argentina reached the first final since 1990, and the fifth draw after overcoming the Netherlands in a penalty shootout following 0-0 draw following the extra time. The Netherlands defeated Brazil 3-0 to secure a third place, the first for the Dutch team in the history. Overall, Brazil conceded 14 goals in a tournament, this was the most by a team at any single World Cup since 1986, and the most by a host nation in history, although their fourth-place finish still represented Brazil's best result in a World Cup since their last win in 2002. Final The 2014 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place on 13 July 2014 at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to determine the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion. Germany defeated Argentina 1–0 in extra time, with the only goal being scored by Mario Götze, who collected André Schürrle's cross from the left on his chest before volleying a high left-footed shot into the net. The match was the third final between the two countries, a World Cup record, after their 1986 and 1990 matches, and billed as the world's best player (Lionel Messi) versus the world's best team (Germany). Before the match, Germany had reached the World Cup final seven times (six times as West Germany from 1954 to 1990), winning three (1954, 1974, 1990) and being runners-up four times (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002); Argentina had reached four finals, winning twice (1978, 1986) and placing second twice (1930, 1990). The result marked Germany's fourth World Cup title, their first since German reunification, and the first World Cup won by a European team in the Americas. The victory meant that three consecutive World Cups have been won by teams from the same continent, following Italy and Spain in 2006 and 2010 respectively, the first time this has happened in World Cup history. It was also the first time that three consecutive World Cup finals were still tied after 90 minutes. With the win, Germany qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. In the winning German team, Miroslav Klose, who had become the top scorer in World Cup history in the semi-final victory over Brazil, became one of the very few players ever to have won gold, silver and bronze medals in the World Cup (bronze in 2006 and 2010, silver in 2002 and gold in 2014), joining a club with such players as Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier and Wolfgang Overath (1966–1974). The two teams had met in 20 previous matches, with nine wins for Germany, six wins for Argentina and five draws. In these games, both of them reached a total of 28 goals. Six of the matches were at World Cup, two of them were in the final. The 2014 final was the seventh World Cup match between them, equalling a tournament record for meetings between two teams (along with Brazil vs Sweden, and Germany vs Yugoslavia). The last three meetings were in the three consecutive world cups, having met in the quarter-finals of the 2006 and 2010 campaigns. *1958 FIFA World Cup Group 1, West Germany defeated Argentina 3-1. *1966 FIFA World Cup Group 2, West Germany and Argentina drew 0-0. FIFA cautioned Argentina for its violent style against the Germans which saw Argentine Rafael Albrecht get sent off and suspended in the next match. *1986 FIFA World Cup Final, Argentina defeated West Germany 3-2 to win their second and most recent title. *1990 FIFA World Cup Final, West Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 to win their third title. It was Germany's last title as West Germany, and the last before the 2006 Final. It saw two Argentine players get sent off. *2006 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals, Germany defeated Argentina 4-2 on penalties (1–1 draw after extra time). It was marred by the post-match brawl caused by Argentines, which resulted in suspensions of the two Argentine players and one German player. *2010 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals, Germany defeated Argentina 4-0. The most recent meeting between the two teams was a friendly match played on 15 August 2012 at Commerzbank-Arena, won by Argentina 3-1. Before the tournament, a friendly was scheduled for 3 September 2014, being the first match for both teams after the World Cup. Argentina won this meeting 4–2. Klose scored one goal in the 2006 meeting and two goals in the 2010 meeting while Muller scored one goal in the 2010 meeting. Germany manager Joachim Low was the assistant manager in 2006 and the manager in 2010. The closing ceremony took place about half and the forty minutes before the final. Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen and Carles Puyol, a member of Spain's winning team in 2010, had unveiled the FIFA World Cup Trophy. Teams #1: Germany #2: Argentina #3: Netherlands #4: Brazil #5: Colombia #6: Belgium #7: France #8: Costa Rica #9: Chile #10: Mexico #11: Switzerland #12: Uruguay #13: Greece #14: Algeria #15: United States #16: Nigeria #17: Ecuador #18: Portugal #19: Croatia #20: Bosnia and Herzegovina #21: Ivory Coast #22: Italy #23: Spain #24: Russia #25: Ghana #26: England #27: South Korea #28: Iran #29: Japan #30: Australia #31: Honduras #32: Cameroon